can't find a specific metaphor

[rowboat]

Hi dhammawheel, I was wondering if anyone can remember a particular metaphor talking about 'learning the dhamma'. It goes something like "learning the dhamma is like wading into the sea..." but it doesn't go on about 'eight characteristics' here, it's that learning the dhamma 'is graded or sloped like when one is wading in the sea.'

[cooran]

Hello rowboat,

Maybe this?
Uposatha Sutta - The Observance

............
1] Just as the ocean has a gradual shelf, a gradual slope, a gradual inclination, with a sudden drop-off only after a long stretch, in the same way this Doctrine and Discipline has a gradual training, a gradual performance, a gradual progression, with a penetration to gnosis only after a long stretch. The fact that this Doctrine and Discipline has a gradual training, a gradual performance, a gradual progression, with a penetration to gnosis not just after a stretch: This is the first amazing and astounding fact about this Doctrine and Discipline that, as they see it again and again, has the monks greatly pleased with the Doctrine and Discipline.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... ml#gradual" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

with metta
Chris

[rowboat]

There it is! Thank you, cooran!

[rowboat]

What an unusual sutta. Now I'm wondering about the possibility of fates for this monk who was expelled by the Buddha. Could such a one ever come to know the true dhamma in that same or in future lives and then go about the work of purification?

[alan]

..

[rowyourboat]

Hi rowboat,

The Noble Eightfold path has eight steps - what the Buddha is saying is that each of these steps must start somewhere - and there is a gradual development seen in each step (not sudden perfection).

These steps aren't superfluous- each of them is required to become a stream entrant and then on to become an arahanth (fully enlightened).



With metta

Matheesha